gpa restrictions…

I facilitated two training sessions last week on motivation; one of the interesting conversations that came from the session focused on GPA (Grade Point Average). I shared with the groups how I’m doing work on GPA restrictions in majors and trying to identify resources for them to finish college. I also shared that we have a number of students in the School of Health and Human Sciences (about 15-20%) that do not have an appropriate GPA to get into their program of choice. Of our 7 undergraduate programs, 5 have at least a 2.5 GPA restriction (an 8th program just started this past Fall Semester and has 2 students in program, so they don’t count for the purpose of this discussion for now). When I mentioned this to the students, they shared that a student should NOT be in college if they can’t maintain at least a 2.5 GPA. They also mentioned that students with low GPA’s aren’t likely to be successful in college. I found the discussion humorous, especially when I shared with them that I graduated with a 2.2 GPA from college – and most people would consider me somewhat successful. Response – complete silence for about 1 minute, then someone blurted out, “you don’t count.” 🙂

The elephant in the room that I NEVER hear anyone talk about are those students trying to get into majors that have GPA restrictions – and they have little or no chance of getting in. A significant portion of the students that I work have this issue – they are in good standing according to the University (making progress towards a degree and have above a 2.0), but are not eligible for most majors on campus. And for those that are available, it may take an additional 3-4 years to complete. Not good if you’re a junior or senior. When I look back on my college experience, I would be one of these students, a student in college without a home. Easy to understand why there are 67,000 people in the Piedmont Triad with college credit and no degree; wonder how many were restricted by major…

If you have any thoughts on addressing this problem, please share. My hope is to create some type of interdisciplinary degree program for students who need a home, who have the desire to graduate but have dug themselves into such a deep hole that they can’t pursue any major. Gotta keep plugging away!